The present grant proposal is an application for partial funding of the Third FASEB Summer Research Conference on "The Cellular and Molecular Basis of Gastroduodenal Mucosal Defense", to be held at the Namaste Retreat and Conference Center in Wilsonville, Oregon from August 16 - 21, 1998. Invited participants will be limited to 100 to 120 basic and clinical Scientists, who will be selected on the basis of their expertise and research interests. Special efforts will be made to attract new and junior investigators and trainees to the conference. There will be nine major scientific sessions, each one involving four to six oral presentations by experts in the field, followed by an open discussion. In addition there will be two poster sessions. The topics to be discussed will be recent advances in the following subject areas: 1) Barriers to Mucosal Injury; 2) Regulation of Epithelial Homeostasis; 3) Chemical Mediators Involved in Mucosal Defense and Injury; 4) Neural Aspects of Mucosal Defense; 5) Immunophysiology of Mucosal Defense and Injury; 6) Helicobacter pylori Infection; 7) Signal Transduction and Mucosal Defense (two sessions); and 8) Mucosal Repair and Healing. Controversy, uncertainty, and agreement in each of these subject areas will be identified and discussed at length. This conference will provide an opportunity for interaction among Basic Scientists (physiologists, pharmacologists, and biochemists) and Clinical Investigators (gastroenterologists, surgeons) with an interest in mucosal defense and ulcer disease. It will also provide a very important opportunity for new and junior investigators and trainees to meet on a one to one basis in an informal setting with the current leaders in this field. The major thrust of this conference will be the discussion of "cutting edge" research in this field, with a focus on where research needs to be directed in the future.